Garmin-Cervelo's David Zabriskie notched up his second time trial win of the season in stage six of the Amgen Tour of California, knocking previously undefeated Solvang king Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) off his thrown into second place. Young American talent Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) powered his way to take the last spot on the podium with an inspired ride, to move him from tenth to sixth place overall and lead the best young riders competition. Race leader Chris Horner (RadioShack) finished up the day in sixth place, enough to retain his overall lead in the race, with 38 seconds in hand over his teammate Leipheimer.
Finally the sunny California skies showed themselves to the peloton today, with Ian Stannard (Team Sky) posting the early best time of 32 minutes and 7 seconds. I wasn't until US National time trial champion Taylor Phinney was off that Stannard's effort could be gauged against the riders expected to perform. The young American came close to knocking the Team Sky rider off the hot seat, but by the time he crossed the line he was 5 seconds short.
The pair of Lazslo Bodrogi (Team Type 1) and Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) were the next surprises of the day, with the TT1 rider shaving a massive 32 seconds off the Briton's time and Vennell taking back 2 seconds more to find himself in the leader's spot. Next up it was another pair that jumped up the leaderboard, with Danish time trial champion Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek) taking 4 second off Vennell's time and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) doing the same to Fuglsang, to finish with a time of 31 minutes and 24 seconds. It didn't last long for the Dutchman, with HTC-Highroad's Peiter Velits going 1 second quicker.
Five-time US time trial champion David Zabriskie was next to jump in the hot seat, with the Garmin-Cervelo riders scorching the course with a time of 30 minutes and 35 seconds to light up the leaderboard with all of the top contenders left out on the course. Tejay Van Garderen was next to arrive on the leaderboard, putting in a strong time 40 seconds off the pace, but enough for second with others still to come. Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) wasn't on a good day and lost time with every pedal stroke, but three-time Solvang winner Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) hit the first time check a half a second ahead of Zabriskie. His teammate and race leader Chris Horner was last on the course, and clocked a time 26 seconds slower. By the time Leiphiemer crossed the line he had faded behind the leader by 14 seconds, but it was enough for second, to send Van Garderen into third.
Stage six results:
1) David Zabriskie (Garmin Cervelo) in 30'35"
2) Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) @ 14"
3) Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) @ 40"
4) Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) @ 48"
5) Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) @ 49"
6) Chris Horner (RadioShack) @ 51"
7) Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek) @ 53"
8) Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) @ 59"
9) Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare) @ 59"
10) Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Cervelo) @ 1'01"
Overall standings following stage six:
1) Chris Horner (RadioShack) in 17:17:01
2) Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) @ 38"
3) Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare) @ 1'38"
4) Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Cervelo) @ 1'39"
5) Tom Danielson (Garmin Cervelo) @ 1'44"
6) Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) @ 1'54"
7) Linus Gerdeman (Leopard Trek) @ 2'26"
8) Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Cervelo) @ 2'27"
9) Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) @ 2'43"
10) Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) @ 2'54"